Hokuriku Arch Pass: seven-day routes from Tokyo to Kansai

Tokyo / Kanazawa · 金沢 / Tsuruga / Kyoto / Osaka

Compare the JPY 35,000 pass price with the tickets for your planned journeys if you want to visit Hokuriku while travelling between Tokyo and Kansai. It may suit several long journeys within seven consecutive days. A single trip or mostly local sightseeing may cost less with individual tickets. The pass does not cover the direct Tokaido Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka.

You need a foreign passport and Temporary Visitor status. Your original passport must be valid throughout the pass period. The official seven-day price is JPY 35,000 adult or JPY 17,500 child. JR East defines children as aged 6–11 on the purchase date; for an agency exchange order, also check the issuing channel’s age-assessment date.

JR West allows each adult or child pass holder to accompany up to two children aged 1–5 free when they do not use their own reserved seats. A third accompanying child, a child needing their own reserved seat, or a child travelling alone needs a child pass. Babies under one travel free when they do not need their own reserved seat. Carry your original passport while using the pass.

Eligible JR East and JR West Ordinary Car reserved and unreserved seats within the area are covered, along with Tokyo Monorail and Noto Railway between Nanao · 七尾 and Wakura-Onsen · 和倉温泉. Open the official English maps below to check the exact boundary stations.

On IR Ishikawa Railway, travel through the full Kanazawa–Tsubata · 津幡 section on an eligible local or limited express without alighting at an intermediate station. On Ainokaze Toyama Railway, use a local train through the full Toyama · 富山–Takaoka · 高岡 section without getting off at an intermediate station. These exceptions connect to covered JR lines. On Hapi-Line Fukui, only local travel between Fukui · 福井 and Echizen-Hanando · 越前花堂 is covered; extending beyond that section requires a separate fare.

For a direct JR-EAST Train Reservation purchase, collect the actual pass at a supported location or passport-reader machine. Show an agency exchange order and your original passport at a location that handles it. For direct JR-WEST purchases, follow JR West’s separate reservation collection instructions.

For a direct JR-WEST online reservation, bring your reservation number, the four-digit identification number you chose, the physical credit card used for the reservation and your original passport. A compatible machine needs a passport with an IC chip; use the ticket office if yours does not have one. A travel-agency exchange order has a different collection procedure.

For an overseas agency MCO exchange order, JR West requires exchange within three months of issue. Bring the order and original passport to a supported exchange location and complete the application. This is an exchange document, not a ticket for boarding. Direct JR-WEST reservations do not accept virtual or numberless payment cards; the physical card used for the booking is required at collection.

At Haneda Airport · 羽田空港 Terminal 3, the JR EAST Travel Service Center currently collects Hokuriku Arch passes bought through an agency or directly through JR-EAST Train Reservation from 06:45 to 20:00 Japan time. Walk to the second-floor arrivals lobby beside the Tokyo Monorail ticket gates. Its passport-reader machine handles direct JR-EAST purchases only, not agency exchange orders. Check the pass-specific pickup list before going to a different station or terminal.

Obtain reserved-seat tickets before boarding. The pass itself does not secure a seat. Green Car and GranClass require separate charges. Use the paper pass at a compatible automatic gate and collect it afterwards; show it to staff where there is no automatic gate.

In the JR West area, use a ticket office from your seventh reserved-seat booking; the official guide limits machine bookings to the first six. Thunderbird and Haruka require reservations because they have no unreserved seating. Green Car or GranClass on a Shinkansen or limited express needs separate accommodation and express charges.

Within the covered Tokyo–Omiya section, Hayabusa and Komachi require a separate limited-express ticket. Choose another covered train or buy that additional ticket before boarding.

The validity period cannot be changed after issue, and a lost pass cannot be reissued. JR’s terms specify a 10% fee for refunding an unused pass within its validity period; restrictions apply once a reserved train has departed, even if the pass was unused. Before exchanging an agency order, check the seller’s cancellation rules.

JR West directs refunds of an exchanged, unused pass to the exchange-location ticket counters in Japan, with 10% deducted and a minimum JPY 220 fee. The overseas agency cannot refund an already exchanged pass. No refund is available after use starts or validity expires. Cancel unwanted reserved-seat tickets before departure; the JR East transport conditions exclude a pass refund after that reserved train has departed.

For Kyoto or Osaka, take the covered Hokuriku Shinkansen to Tsuruga, then change to the Thunderbird limited express. Reserve each train separately before boarding. This route travels through Hokuriku; it does not make the direct Tokaido Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kansai eligible.